Monday, April 25, 2011, its first-quarter net income fell 9.5 percent because it shelled out more for materials to make its products.(AP Photo/David
Christina Rexrode, AP Business Writer, On Monday April 25, 2011, 3:27 pm EDT

DALLAS (AP) -- Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Huggies and Kleenex, said Monday it plans to raise prices, its third such announcement since the middle of March.

The company said it's merely passing along the higher prices that it has to pay for raw materials like oil and wood pulp. It also more than doubled its predictions for how much the prices for such commodities will increase.

It's a refrain that's becoming familiar -- and, to budget-conscious shoppers, tired -- this spring. Rising commodities prices are taking center stage at a number of companies, from restaurants to clothing manufactures, who blame them for higher prices at the store.

One of Kimberly-Clark's chief rivals, Procter & Gamble Co., said Monday it has raised the price of Pampers diapers, Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels by 3 to 7 percent.

At Kimberly-Clark, rising commodities prices also got the blame for a decline in first-quarter net income, which fell 9 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company's stock fell more than 3 percent in the afternoon, to $64.74.

CEO Tom Falk acknowledged that customers won't welcome the news.

"I don't think I have ever seen a customer yet that has said, 'Thank you' for that," he said, "just as we don't want our suppliers to hand us cost increases."

He said the company will try to soften the blow by trimming its own costs, as it's done throughout the recession. He said he's telling employees that "this is the way the world is everywhere."

"We're telling them, 'Hey, we are not going to be victims here,'" Falk said. "We are going to make those tough trade-offs to do the most important things, and the nice-to-have stuff isn't going to get done."

Falk didn't detail the cost-cutting plans, but spokeswoman Kay Jackson said they will include trimming discretionary spending like travel, overtime, consulting and open positions.

In a research note this month, UBS analyst Kaumil Gajrawala cast doubt about the "blame-it-on-commodities" line many companies are taking as they raise prices. The Goldman Sachs Commodity Index is up 25 percent in the past 18 months, according to an April 15 note by Gajrawala. It rose a much steeper 84 percent from January 2007 to July 2008, Gajrawala wrote.

Companies walk a tightrope when they try to raise prices. They want to make as much money as possible, but they don't want to drive customers to competitors or to store brands.

In the recession, customers got used to discounts on diapers and other items, so it's not likely that they'll take kindly to being asked to pay more.

Kimberly-Clark said Monday that the latest round price increases will be focused on consumer products in North America. That followed two other recent announcements about price increases.

In March, Kimberly-Clark said it would raise U.S. prices on Huggies baby wipes and diapers, Pull-Ups training pants and GoodNights youth pants by an average of 3 to 7 percent this spring or summer. It said it would raise prices for Cottonelle and Scott toilet paper by an average of 7 percent.

Last week, it said it would raise prices on some of the products it sells to hospitals and other companies.

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) forecast higher prices for beef, dairy and other items and said it would cautiously raise prices to keep attracting diners, who are grappling with higher grocery and gas bills.

Shares fell 1.5 percent after the world's biggest hamburger chain said it planned to offset some, but not all, of its higher food costs, with small price increases throughout the year.

McDonald's results landed a day after rival Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) reported strong China results that masked rising food and labor costs. Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG.N), which has nearly all of its 1,100 restaurants in the United States, saw higher food costs eat into margins.

McDonald's and other restaurant operators are getting squeezed by accelerating food costs and must figure out how to raise prices without scaring away already skittish diners.

"It's very hard to pass through price increase right now," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steve West.

McDonald's Chief Executive Jim Skinner said customers are getting "pinched everywhere. They should not suffer the same fate at McDonald's."

Chief Financial Officer Pete Bensen said the company would sacrifice some short-term margin to protect long-term growth. He added that McDonald's has experience finding the right recipe for price increases in fragile economic times.

McDonald's now expects food costs to rise between 4 percent and 4.5 percent in the United States and Europe this year. That is up from its prior call for a rise of 2 percent to 2.5 percent in the United States and an increase of 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent in Europe.

McDonald's in March put through a 1 percent menu price rise in the United States, where it plans additional increases. Prices in Europe are up by the same amount and the company plans to raise prices in China.

When it comes to raising prices, West said McDonald's has an edge because it attracts a higher-income diner than other fast-food chains. It could have the best luck raising prices on things like premium burgers and McCafe drinks that appeal to those customers, he said.

STEALING SHARE

After struggling during the recession, McDonald's has outperformed its fast-food peers by updating its menu to broaden its appeal beyond the young males that account for the biggest share of sales at most other fast-food chains.

"The bottom line is they're still doing a great job of growing revenue," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at Oakbrook Investments.

Analysts remain worried that high gas prices could force fast-food restaurant patrons to cut back. But Jankovskis said McDonald's was better equipped than others to cope.

McDonald's has roughly 32,700 restaurants around the world. The United States alone has 14,000 units, which means customers do not have to travel far to get to one.

"The big test will come in the summer months with gasoline remaining in the neighborhood of $4.00 (a gallon) -- that's when the strength of McDonald's will come through," he said. (here)

It will likely cost more to buy diapers and toilet paper soon as the leading makers of both of those products, including Procter & Gamble, are raising their list prices.

Downtown-based P&G is raising prices on Pampers diapers by 7 percent and its prices for Charmin toilet tissue by 5 percent. Itâs also raising the price of Bounty paper towels by 5 percent and the prices of Pampers wipes by 3 percent.

The cost of raw materials, especially pulp and oil, are driving the price increases, said P&G spokesman Paul Fox.

P&G competitor Kimberly-Clark is also raising the prices of most of the products it sell in North America, it announced Monday. Dallas-based Kimberly Clark makes Huggies diapers, Cottonelle toilet tissues and Kleenex facial tissues.

The company also blamed rising costs for raw materials for its price increases.
Neither P&G nor Kimberly Clark set the prices that shoppers see at stores, but retail prices are based on the prices that manufacturers like P&G charge and retailers are likely to pass on the increases to consumers.

Paper products arenât the only items going up. P&G told its retailers in March it was raising prices on laundry detergent in the U.S. by 4.5 percent on average. That included a price increase of 13 percent for its powdered detergents, except for Era.

P&G forecast the price increases in February when it told investment analysts that the rising costs of fuel used in shipping and manufacturing, as well as rising costs of other commodities will cost P&G $1.5 billion this fiscal year, which ends in June.

General Motors Co. announced Monday that it will raise prices for its cars and trucks throughout the nation at an average of $123 per vehicle beginning May 2 because of rising commodity costs in oil and metal. The price increase makes for a 0.4 percent change and GM says that it is not related to the Japan earthquake and tsunami last month. The price increase will affect nearly all Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC models and will be limited to the United States only.

"This is in response to the continued rise in material costs, and that's mainly because of commodities," said GM spokesman Tom Henderson. These commodities include oil and products made from oil, aluminum and other key components used in the manufacturing of GMâs cars and trucks, he says. Oil prices have made for a rather large impact not only because each car gets a full tank before itâs sold, but also because of the affect on the cost of plastic parts and tires.

If a company raises its prices, simply switch to a competitors product. This reflationary scam was telegraphed a few years ago, I'm certain that many of these companies bitching and whining about getting squeezed were hedged up the wazoo for what they knew was coming. So now they can play stupid and raise prices.